The pentatonic scale is a must-learn to all guitarists ! It’s often the first scale they learn to play ! I Allow me to guide you on a path to discover the secrets of the pentatonic scale : how its made and how to play it.

First of all, the word pentatonic is made of two concepts : penta, which mean « five » and tonic, meaning « note ». Thus, this scale is made of 5 notes that will repeat at different heights, octaves. There are many existing pentatonic scale. The one, most-used, is the pentatonic minor scale of A (or A minor pentatonic scale).

We draw a scale this way on a guitar neck. This is a scale diagram for guitar.

This scheme represents the guitar fretboard. Dots refers to the notes composing the scale. Set on the guitar neck. To play this scale, you have to start from the thickest string. From left to right, before jumping to the next string… and still left to right. Each « dot » is a note to be played, a string to be picked on

The A minor pentatonic scale

Thus, starting from an A, we get A, C, D, E, G and so forth. 5 notes which will repeat in the minor pentatonic scale. Here we find a minor third of 3 half steps, meaning 1.5 step, so the pentatonic scale is minor.

To complete the position of the notes on the guitar fretboard, we will simply look for their octaves, so similar notes of an higher or lower pitch.

The A major pentatonic scale

Starting from an A, we find the following sequence : A, B, C#, E, F# and so forth with their octaves. The leaps between A and its third, C# is two steps. This is so a major third note.

A well know example is the pentatonic scale

These scales are a lot used in rock, blues and metal. On this topic, the A scale is the most well-known, to the point that whenever we speak about a pentatonic scale, it’s the first one that comes to mind. Now, we still need have to learn how to use it to improvise.

Here’s an example of Eb minor pentatonic scale in the style of Jimi Hendrix on Voodoo Child (from 00:08)

Example of the different forms of the minor pentatonic scale

Each scale encases as much position as it has notes in it. In this case, it means 5. Don’t bother learning them all. They’ll come naturally to your fingers when you’ll improvise. We name those forms and schemes with a roman number : « Form I » « Form II » and so forth until V (5 in romans number) Below, you’ll find the A minor pentatonic scale